Wagner to name Danny Hurley as men's basketball coach

The Star-Ledger photoDanny Hurley, coach of national powerhouse St. Benedict’s Prep in Newark and son of legendary New Jersey HS coach Bob Hurley, will be named Wagner College’s men’s basketball coach Wednesday.

Wagner College will name 37-year-old Danny Hurley as the 17th head coach in Seahawk men’s hoop history, the Advance has learned.

Hurley, a former Rutgers University assistant with deep ties to the high school and college basketball community in the Northeast, has spent the last nine seasons shaping St. Benedict’s Prep in Newark into a national prep school powerhouse.

Hurley’s record with the Grey Bees is 223-21 and his teams have been ranked No. 1 in the nation during three seasons during his nine-year stewardship. St. Benedict’s finished this season 20-1 and ranked by ESPN as the fourth-best high school program in America.

The new Wagner coach is the son of legendary high school coach Bob Hurley, who has won 23 state titles and more than 900 games at St. Anthony HS in Jersey City. Bob Hurley will be announced today in Indianapolis as one of this year’s inductees into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame.

Danny Hurley — who, according to sources, will be introduced at a Wednesday press conference at Spiro Sports Center — was on his way to join his father in Indianapolis last night.

The one-time Seton Hall point guard, a 1,000-point scorer for former Wagner coach P.J. Carlesimo in the early 90s, is the younger brother of Duke All-America and NBA lottery pick Bob Hurley Jr.

Bob Hurley Jr. is said by some close to the process to be considering joining his younger brother’s staff at Wagner.

Over the past month, following the firing of Bobby Gonzalez, Hurley’s name also surfaced in connection with the Seton Hall job opening. Last week, the Pirates settled on Iona coach Kevin Willard as Gonzalez’s replacement.

Hurley replaces college coaching veteran Mike Deane, who was fired following his seventh season on Grymes Hill after going 5-26. Deane leaves with a 24-year head coaching record of 413-331 at four Division I programs — Siena, Marquette, Lamar and Wagner. In that time, he has won 20 games nine times and made four NCAA Tournament appearances.

The 58-year-old Deane failed, however, to take Wagner to the NCAA Tournament. His inability to win a Northeast Conference championship in the one-bid league was the primary reason Deane was let go, according to school athletic director Walt Hameline.

Hurley, who has been close to accepting coaching positions at places like Marist College in the past, wished to remain in the metropolitan area where he is well known and well regarded.

He beat out Texas A&M associate head coach Scott Spinelli and Vanderbilt assistant King Rice for the Wagner job.

The Freehold, N.J., resident, married and the father of two young boys, will take over a largely inexperienced Seahawk group that includes six sophomores and just two seniors, a team which went 3-15 in Northeast Conference play last year.

Wagner has been to the NCAA Tournament just once in 33 years of Division I competition. The Seahawk program has posted 13 winning seasons in that stretch.